The
battle for Hill 875 was over, and some survivors were being brought in
by Chinook to the landing strip at Dak To. The 173rd Airborne had taken
over 400 casualties, nearly 200 killed, all on the previous afternoon
and in the fighting that had gone on all through the night. It was very
cold and wet up there, and some girls from the Red Cross had been sent
up from Pleiku to comfort the survivors. As the troops filed out of the
helicopters, the girls waved and smiled at them from behind their
serving tables. "Hi, soldier! What's your name?" "Where you from,
soldier?" "I'll bet some hot coffee would hit the spot right about now."

And
the men from the 173rd just kept walking without answering, staring
straight ahead, their eyes rimmed with red from fatigue, their faces
pinched and aged with all that had happened during the night. One of
them dropped out of line and said something to a loud, fat girl who wore
a Peanuts sweatshirt under her fatigue blouse and she started to cry.
The rest just walked past the girls and the large olive-drab coffee
urns. They had no idea of where they were.

Hill 875 at Dak To in November 1967, after 21 days of fighting with heavy casualties on both sides: photo by AP, 5 November 1967; image by Photo Tractatus

Troops of the 173rd Airborne coming off duty after campaigning in the Central Highlands (Battle of Dak To, 1967): photographer unknown, November 1967); image by RM Gillespie, 21 August 2007 (US Army)

Wounded American soldiers being moved to aid station (Battle of Dak To, 1967): photographer unknown, November 1967); image by RM Gillespie, 21 August 2007 (US Army)

Hill 875 Casualty, Dak To. Swathed in
battle dressings, but still gripping his weapon, a wounded soldier of
the 173rd Airborne awaits evacuation from Hill 875. American troops
captured the summit of Hill 875, climaxing the longest and costliest
battle of the Vietnam war. The battle claimed the lives of 280
Americans and nearly 1400 North Vietnamese: photographer unknown, 23 November 1967; image by Tommy Japan, 2013

Dak To, South Vietnam --- In Battle. A member of the
173rd Airborne Brigade crouches beside the body of a dead comrade and
equipment left by wounded at the height of the battle on Hill 875.
U.S. Army paratroopers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade began a final
assault up the bloody slopes of Hill 875: photographer unknown, 22 November 1967; image by Chinh Dang-Vu (chinhdangvu1), 2013

Dak To, South Vietnam. Plasma is given to a wounded
member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade on a ridge on Hill 875 November
21, 1967 as another member races into battle. U.S. paratroopers
November 22, 1967 stormed up Hill 875 and smashed into the Communist
hilltop fortress that kept them trapped for three days. They hurled
grenades and fired flamethrowers into North Vietnamese bunkers still
being bombarded by army artillery and jet planes splashing flaming
napalm: photographer unknown, 22 November 1967; image by Chinh Dang-Vu (chinhdangvu1), 2013

Dak To, South Vietnam --the battle for hill 875 is over
and American troops are at the hill's so these battle weary men of the
U.S. 173 Airborne Brigade pause for a moment's rest. American troops
went to the top of hill 8 75 after some of the bloodiest fighting of
the Vietnam War: photographer unknown, 23 November 1967; image by Chinh Dang-Vu (chinhdangvu1), 2013